CO-Horts

CO-Horts

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Saving pollinators one garden and one person at a time

Irene Shonle, CSU Extension in Gilpin County

At this point, most people have heard about the dire situation of Monarchs
butterflies.The World Wildlife Fund and
others documented a 59 percent decline in monarch populations this year. Monarchs get a lot of press because of their
beauty and the spectacle of their generations-long migration, and their plight
helps to also shed light on the issues facing other pollinators.

Monarch butterfly courtesy Dave Cappaert, Bugwood.org

Honeybees are struggling, too, and
many native pollinators are in serious trouble, according to Eric Mader,
assistant pollinator program director with The Xerces Society for Invertebrate
Conservation. Several
species of bumblebees in the United States have declined substantially over the
past 2 to 3 decades, according to a study led by entomologist Sydney Cameron of
the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The declines are thought to be
due to habitat loss/fragmentation, pesticide use, climate change, and
non-native pathogens.

Scientists
are particularly tracking five declining species of bumblebee, including the Western
bumblebee, Bombus occidentalis – and
there have been recent sightings in our area! For more information, go here: http://www.xerces.org/bumblebees, or to join a
citizen science project documenting bumblebee distribution, go here: http://www.bumblebeewatch.org/.

Protecting, restoring, and enhancing habitat is the best way to reverse the
declines in bumblebee populations, and the best thing is that this is a project
where individuals in our own mountain yards can actually make a significant
contribution!So often, you hear about
one environmental disaster after another, and can feel somewhat helpless and
depressed, but here is a win-win situation where your efforts will help the pollinators
and make your yard more beautiful.Bumblebees are gentle creatures (often likened to flying teddy bears),
and will rarely sting unless threatened, so don’t be alarmed at the thought of
attracting them to your house (unless someone in your house has a severe
allergy).

Bumblebees need three types of habitat to survive: plants on which to forage
for pollen and nectar, nesting sites, and places to overwinter.Usually the latter two don’t require much effort
on our part (other than leaving them undisturbed); so here are some tips on
what to plant to attract our native pollinators:

During hot,
dry periods, provide water in shallow birdbaths or pools where pollinators
can easily land. Some wasps and bees need mud to build their nests,
and butterflies like to gather in muddy puddles.

Reduce or
eliminate use insecticides, especially ones that state that they are
harmful to bees or butterflies on their label. If using an herbicide, target only
invasive weeds, and don’t spray when bees or butterflies are present.